Nele Gilis - Bio
Nele Gilis is the Belgian No.1, and she broke into the world's top ten for the first time in the latter part of 2022. She is also the older sister of Tinne Gilis.
She has shown herself to be an adept competitor at junior events with the German Junior U19 Open, the European Junior U19 Championship and the Pioneer Junior U19 Cup all going to the youngster in 2014. Gilis narrowly missed out on both the London Open and Edinburgh Open titles in 2014 and 2015, losing out to Yathreb Adel and Fiona Moverley, respectively.
In 2016 Gilis marched to the final of the Paderborn Open, falling short of clinching the title as Nada Abbas sealed the victory over three games. The Belgian then went one better at the Open International Des Volcans sealing victory with a 3-1 win over Amanda Landers-Murphy leading her to break into the world’s top 40 for the first time that year.
The next year Gilis continued her strong form with a win in the final of the Irish Open over five games against England’s Millie Tomlinson. Her next tournament saw her finish runner-up to Fiona Moverley at the Open International de Squash de Nantes. She also made the quarter finals of the Monte Carlo Classic in 2017.
Gilis reached the last eight of the Novum Energy Texas Open Women’s Squash Championship in 2018, before winning the Open International de Squash de Nantes later in the year. The Belgian then had a slight dip in form, only reaching the last 16 in the Carol Weymuller Open, Cleveland Classic and DPD Open, but bounced back to win the Cannon Kirk Irish Open in April 2019.
Gilis then followed that up by reaching the last eight of a Platinum event for the first time in her career, doing so at the British Open. With that result, she moved into the top 20 in the World Rankings for the first time. She took another step up the World Rankings at the end of the 2019-2020 season, breaking into the top 16 for the first time in her career.
That came about after consistently reaching the last 16 of major tournaments, the Belgian No.1 doing so at the Open de France - Nantes, Oracle NetSuite Open, Windy City Open and Black Ball Women’s Open. Gilis went one stage further at the Bahl and Gaynor Cincinnati Cup, along with reaching the final of the Detroit Pro Classic, where she lost out to Olivia Clyne in the final.
The Belgian No.1 showed her constant improvements, as she reached the last eight of the CIB Egyptian Open, before losing out to World No.1 Nouran Gohar in a close three-game battle in front of the Pyramids. Gilis also reached the last 16 of both the Manchester Open and the CIB Black Ball Squash Open in the latter part of 2020.
After a couple of early exits to start 2021, Gilis claimed victory at the Squash On Fire Open in Washington, D.C. and then went on to make the quarter finals of the Manchester Open, U.S. Open sponsored by Truist and DAC Pro Squash Classic to round of her calendar year.
She followed that by starting 2022 with quarter final results at both the Cincinnati Gaynor Cup and the Squash on Fire Open, before a runner-up finish at the Challenger 30 level Annecy Rose Open, where she lost out to younger sister Tinne. The Belgian then made the semis of the Manchester Open before last 16 appearances at both the CIB PSA World Championships and the El Gouna International.
The Belgian finals secured her maiden World Tour level crown at the start of the 2022-2023 season, as she defeated younger sister Tinne in the final of the Open de France de Squash, to the delights of the crowd at Hangar 24 in Nantes.
She then made the semis of the Barfoot & Thompson New Zealand Open, and the last eight of the MARIGOLD Singapore Squash Open, before securing the Malaysian Squash Open Championships crown, moving into the world’s top ten for the first time as a result.
The Belgian started 2023 with a last 16 result at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions, before then reaching the semi-finals of the Chestnut Hill Classic. That was followed by a quarter final appearance at the PSA World Championships, before reaching back-to-back finals.
Gilis made it to the final of the Manchester Open, where she lost out to Nour El Tayeb. She then followed that up by making the final of the El Gouna International, beating Nour El Sherbini on her way to becoming the first Belgian to reach a major final on the PSA World Tour. Although she lost out to Nouran Gohar, she climbed to World No.7, equalling the best ever ranking position of a Belgian, joining Stefan Castelyn in making that mark.
